Method for producing filled foodstuff hollow bodies

ABSTRACT

Process for the production of filled food hollow mouldings, in which each hollow moulding has at least one cavity, which is open to the environment and filled with a filling material solid at ambient temperature and having a cross-sectional dimension between approximately 0.25 mm 2  and approximately 1 cm 2 , characterized in that in a first stage the hollow mouldings are coated at reduced pressure with the filling material, a filing material coating temperature being set in such a way that the filling material is flowable and in which in a second step the pressure is raised, so that the flowable coating material enters the cavities.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national stage application of PCT/DE00/04524 filedDec. 12, 2000 claiming priority to DE 19962866.1 filed Dec. 24, 1999.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a process for the production of filled foodhollow mouldings, in which each hollow moulding has at least one cavityfilled with a filling material solid at ambient temperature and open tothe environment and having a cross-sectional dimension betweenapproximately 0.25 mm² and approximately 1 cm².

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Processes for the production of filled food hollow mouldings andprocesses for the filling of prefabricated hollow mouldings are known.In a first process working takes place with two parallel extrusionstrands or lines of different materials and the resulting extrudate iscut after extrusion into small, compact pieces giving food compositeshaving in an outer area a carrier material and in a cavity or severalcavities distributed over the carrier material and which in the finishedstate are open to the outside, a filling material. In another processinitially e.g. by extrusion food hollow mouldings are produced, e.g. inthe form of small hollow cylinders, which can be closed in an endportion, the hollow moulding subsequently being filled with a fillingmaterial and the or each cavity is stripped at its mouth or openingface, so that the filling material is exclusively located within thecavity.

The known processes are disadvantageous in that they either requirerelatively high apparatus expenditure in order to produce a coextrudedproduct and/or require complicated working steps, such as e.g. thestripping of openings of the hollow mouldings.

The problem of the invention is to provide a less complicated and costlyprocess according to the preamble enabling large quantities to beproduced.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention this problem is solved by a process for theproduction of filled food hollow mouldings, in which each hollowmoulding has at least one cavity, which is open to the environment andfilled with a filling material solid at ambient temperature and having across-sectional dimension between approximately 0.25 mm² andapproximately 1cm², characterized in that in a first stage the hollowmouldings are coated at reduced pressure with the filling material, afilling material coating temperature being set in such a way that thefilling material is flowable and in which in a second step the pressureis raised, so that the flowable coating material enters the cavities.

It is possible to spray on the filling material. It is possible to use awater-containing and/or fat-containing and/or protein-containing fillingmaterial.

The coating temperature can between 30° C. and 98° C., preferably 60° C.

The hollow mouldings can be produced by extrusion and can be hollowcylindrical.

The hollow mouldings can be produced from a porous material. Prior tothe first step the hollow mouldings can be vacuum-coated with coatingmaterial. Additionally, prior to the first step and in particular priorto vacuum coating, the hollow mouldings can be dried under reducedpressure.

The hollow mouldings can have cavities, which are open to theenvironment with one and/or several end portions.

The coating temperature is approximately set in such a way that theresulting filling material viscosity leads to the filling materialadvancing to the greatest possible extent into the cavities of thehollow mouldings. Preferably the filling material completely fills thecavities.

In a particularly appropriate embodiment in the first step such afilling material quantity is used that after the second step there isessentially no filling material outside the cavities on the hollowmouldings.

Preferably of hollow mouldings are simultaneously filled in a mixingvessel or filled hollow mouldings are produced, the hollow mouldingsbeing stirred or mixed during the first and/or second step.

After the second step, the filled hollow mouldings can be coated with acovering material containing colouring and/or flavouring substances.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described in greater detail hereinafter relative to anembodiment and the attached drawings, wherein show:

FIG. 1 A simplified plant diagram for performing the process accordingto the invention.

FIG. 2 Temperature and pressure gradients during the individual processsteps in a vacuum coating device, as used in the plant according to FIG.1.

FIG. 3 A per se known vacuum coating device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows a plant for performing the inventiveprocess for the production of filled food hollow mouldings, a startingmaterial being preconditioned following the addition of additives suchas fat, water, etc. and is extruded in an extruder to a desiredcross-sectional shape, consideration e.g. being given to the productionof a hollow cylindrical cross-section. In a typical situation, directlyupstream of the extruder mouth the extruded material has a temperatureof approximately 125° C. and a moisture content of 25%. Followingcomminution of the extruded, strand-like material to a desired length ofe.g. 1 cm, the thus produced hollow mouldings enter a dryer where theyare e.g. dried for 30 minutes at 140° C. (product temperatureapproximately 95° C.) to a moisture content of 6% and are conveyed intoa temporary storage means.

Fundamentally there can be a random size, shape and number of cavitiesper hollow moulding and apart from a hollow cylindrical constructionrandom other embodiments are possible, such as e.g. mouldings havingseveral cylindrical or also conically tapering openings, in which theopenings are parallel to one another or pass in different directions. Inthe manner of blind holes, the cavities can terminate blind in thehollow moulding and several hollow mouldings can be interconnected. Allthat is important is that each basic or hollow moulding provided withone or more cavities has a certain capacity for receiving a fillingmaterial flowable in a processing state and which is subsequently solidat ambient temperature. In addition, the openings or cavities must besufficiently large to be clearly visible with the naked eye, i.e. thecross-sectional dimension should be at least approximately 0.25 mm²,which corresponds to a diameter of approximately 0.5 mm. The maximumappropriate diameter for such openings or cavities is approximately 1cm² or a diameter of approximately 1 cm, in the case of cavities with acircular cross-section.

The filling or coating process according to the invention takes place ina per se known pivotable vacuum mixer or coater, which is shown in FIG.3. As can be gathered from FIGS. 1 and 3, the vacuum mixer has a mixingvessel with mixing blades rotatable about a horizontal swivel axis and asealable filling or emptying opening facing the same. By pivoting by180° the mixer is brought from the filling and working position into anemptying position.

Following the introduction of a desired quantity of food hollowmouldings to be filled and taken as bulk material from the temporarystorage means, the mixer is sealed and the pressure within the mixerreduced to approximately 200 mbar. The desired filling material, e.g. amaterial containing fat and/or water and/or protein is sprayed onto thehollow mouldings, the filling material temperature being set in such away that the material is in the form of a flowable cream. The materialcan e.g. have a temperature of approximately 60° C. This temperature tobe set can also be dependent on the temperature of the hollow mouldingslocated in the mixer and the mixing ratio between the filing materialand the hollow mouldings, because following contact between the fillingmaterial and the hollow mouldings a joint temperature is set, which candiffer from the temperature with which the filling material must have aviscosity such that it flows or is forced into the cavities of thehollow mouldings and preferably substantially or completely fills thesame.

When all the filling material has been sprayed into the mixer and thehollow mouldings are uniformly coated with the material as a result ofthe mixing process, the filling material still being located on theouter face of the hollow mouldings, the pressure inside the mixer isgradually raised again to ambient pressure. It has surprisingly beenfound that the filling material originally more or less uniformlydistributed on the outer surface of the hollow moulding is substantiallyexclusively and completely forced or flows into the cavities of thehollow mouldings.

FIG. 2 illustrates the above-described coating process by means of thetime pressure gradient within the mixer.

When using a porous material for producing the basic or hollow mouldingsto be filled, the pores of the material can be filled in a precedingstep with an e.g. fat-containing coating material, working appropriatelytaking place in the vacuum coating process. Instead of drying theextruded hollow mouldings in a separate dryer, the drying operation canbe directly performed in the mixer, optionally with an energy supply(heat) from the outside, in that prior to the coating process thepressure within the mixer is lowered well below 200 mbar, e.g. to 40mbar, which corresponds to a boiling point of approximately 30° C. (inthe case of aqueous filling materials) and leads to a relatively rapiddrying and cooling.

1. Process for the production of filled food hollow mouldings,comprising the steps of: providing at least one hollow moulding havingat least one cavity, which is open to the environment and can be filledwith a filling material solid at ambient temperature, said cavity havinga cross-sectional dimension between approximately 0.25 mm² andapproximately 1 cm²; a first step of coating the hollow mouldings undera reduced pressure with the filling material, wherein a filling materialcoating temperature is set in such a way tat the filling material is aflowable cream; and a second step of raising the pressure so that theflowable coating material enters the cavities.
 2. Process according toclaim 1, wherein the filling material is sprayed on.
 3. Processaccording to claim 1, wherein use is made of a filling materialcontaining water and/or fat and/or protein.
 4. Process according toclaim 1, wherein the coating temperature is between 30 and 98° C. 5.Process according to claim 1, wherein the pressure is reduced to 200mbar.
 6. Process according to claim 1, wherein the hollow mouldings areproduced by extrusion.
 7. Process according to claim 1, wherein thecavities of the hollow mouldings are cylindrical in shape.
 8. Processaccording to claim 1, wherein the hollow mouldings are produced from aporous material.
 9. Process according to claim 1, wherein prior to thefirst step, the hollow moulding are vacuum-coated with a coatingmaterial.
 10. Process according to claim 1, wherein prior to the firststep, the hollow mouldings are dried under reduced pressure.
 11. Processaccording to claim 1, wherein the hollow mouldings have cavities, whichawe open to the environment from at least one end portion.
 12. Processaccording to claim 1, wherein the coating temperature is set in such away that the resulting filling material viscosity allows the fillingmaterial to substantially advance into the cavities of the hollowmouldings.
 13. Process according to claim 1, wherein the fillingmaterial completely fills the cavities.
 14. Process according to claim1, wherein a filling material quantity is used in the first step-suchthat following the second step there is substantially no further fillingmaterial outside the cavities on the hollow mouldings.
 15. Processaccording to claim 1, wherein a plurality of filled hollow mouldings issimultaneously produced in a mixing vessel, the hollow mouldings beingstirred during the fist and/or second step.
 16. Process according toclaim 1, further including a step following the second step, wherein thefilled hollow moulding are coated with a covering material containingcolouring and/or flavouring substances.
 17. Process according to claim1, wherein an animal food is produced.
 18. Process according to claim 4,wherein the coating temperature is 60° C.
 19. Process according to claim1, wherein he hollow mouldings have cavities which are open to theenvironment from several end portions.